Border Patrol agent acquitted in fatal shooting of Mexican teen

Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz was initially indicted with second-degree murder in the deadly shooting of a Mexican teen along the US-Mexico border.

Border Patrol agent acquitted in fatal shooting of Mexican teen

Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz was initially indicted with second-degree murder in the deadly shooting of a Mexican teen along the US-Mexico border.

A Border Patrol agent was acquitted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter in the deadly shooting of a Mexican teen, court records show.

Lonnie Swartz was accused of shooting through a border fence in Nogales, Arizona, in 2012 and killing 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez, who was on the Mexican side of the border. The agent fired 14 to 30 shots and 10 of those bullets hit the teen, officials said.

A judge has set a status conference on the case for Dec. 11 as prosecutors decide whether Swartz could be tried again, CNN affiliate the Arizona Daily Star newspaper reported.

The teen’s family criticized the verdict and said they will keep fighting for justice.

“They are now allowing this man to get another job, get another gun and continue killing,” the teen’s grandmother Taide Elena told CNN affiliate KOLD.

It’s unclear whether Swartz, who has been on administrative leave and living in Nevada since the incident, will return to his post, KOLD reported.

Agent still facing civil lawsuit

Swartz is also facing a civil rights lawsuit. The teen’s mother, Araceli Rodríguez, is suing him for violating her son’s constitutional rights.

The agent appealed on the grounds of qualified immunity but in August a federal appeals court said the boy deserved to be constitutionally protected against Swartz’s use of deadly force, allowing the mother’s claim to proceed.

In 2010, a 15-year-old Mexican boy, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, was playing with friends on the cement culvert that separates Texas from Mexico. A US Border Patrol agent shot and killed Sergio.

The boy’s parents sued the agent six months later, but the court’s ruling looked a bit different.

In that case, a federal appeals court said Sergio did not get constitutional protections on the other side of the border. And because of that, it said, his family couldn’t sue the agent for violating his rights.